Priyankar Chakraborty’s scientific contributions

We report the first occurrence of partial xanthism in Notopterus synurus (Bloch and Schneider 1801), collected from West Bengal, India, in May 2018. The specimen has yellow colouration on the dorsal portion, head and fins, except for a white ventral region, melanophores on the pectoral fin base and black eyes.

A new species of snakehead, Channa brahmacharyisp. nov., is described based on 8 specimens (109.54mm–135.69 mm standard length), collected from Simsang river in Meghalaya. The new species is closely similar to Channa lipor Praveenraj, Uma, Moulitharan & Singh and Channa aurantipectoralis Lalhlimpuia, Lalronunga & Lalramliana. Itcan be distinguished from its congeners by the presence of 8-9 oblique bands horizontally along the dorsal flank of the body, 45-47pored lateral line scales, 34-37 dorsal fin rays, 23-26 anal fin rays and 45total vertebrae. With this new species the number of snakehead species endemic to the Eastern Himalayan Biodiversity hotspot is now increased to 15.

Five species of fishes viz., Ichthyscopus lebeck, Lagocephalus spadiceus, Platax teira, Caesio caerulaurea and Thysanophrys celebica are recorded from the Indian Sundarbans, the deltaic bulge of the Ganges River in the State of West Bengal, India. Thysanophrys celebica and Lagocephalus spadiceus forms the first record for the state of West Bengal, India. Diagnostic characteristics and notes on distribution are provided in this paper. The present paper subsidises the already existing list of ichthyofaunal resources from the Indian Sundarbans region to provide a better understanding of the role of different species in the functioning of the ecosystem.